I Can Fly
by MelanieMM
Summary: Clark and Lois are on assignment in Paris together, where she discovers something very important about Clark, and she's not too pleased.


****for my friend Renee who loves Clois****

"Why didn't I know?" Her voice wasn't raised, but the tone was lethal.

Clark stood there, hand still on the doorknob, frozen in place by Lois's words. He hadn't even had time to wipe the soot off his face, or rearrange his hair into place. His suit jacket still hung off him in an almost comical array of tatters, and his shirt was ripped in a charred line from his shoulder to his waist. He realized now he shouldn't have come back so disheveled—hell he shouldn't have left at all, but he the cries of help woke him from a deep sleep, spurring him to action so fast he didn't have time to wonder when he'd learned French.

He'd hoped to make it back to bed before Lois even realized he was gone, a reasonable hope since it was 3am, and they'd both spent an exhausting day exploring every inch of Paris, before they were forced to start their assignment the next day. He should have known—he should have known a lot of things, but hindsight didn't matter now, only the hazel eyes boring into him mattered.

"Lois, I…"

"You what Clark?!" Her calm was obviously broken. "I get woken out of the first decent night's sleep I've had in days by sirens, so my first thought is to wake you up and ask you what the hell is going on, but guess what? You're not there. So I get up—Not a word Clark!—so I get up and walk out on the balcony to see if you're having another one of your infamous bouts of insomnia and do you know what I see?!"

Clark started to open his mouth, but shut it quickly.

"I see you landing Clark! Landing on the sidewalk near the alley. How?!—you know, don't tell me, I don't want to know, you didn't think I needed to know before now did you?"

"Lois, I'm sorry. If you'd let me…."

"Save it."

She pushed past him, and pulled the door out of his loose grasp and walked out the door, slamming it behind her.

Clark felt his heart plummet to somewhere below his feet. A million things were swimming through his brain—all of them regrets. There were so many times the words "I'm an alien" were poised to come tumbling out of his mouth, but that same fear always gripped his chest, and he bit back the words. He didn't know why, and he knew a large part of it had nothing to do with Lois. With her he was any other young man, fresh out of college and trying to make their mark in a new job, having a wonderful girlfriend and just being—normal. He thought he'd left the need for that sort of normalcy behind in Smallville, but when he and Lois started dating, or what passed for dating between them, he slipped into that old skin and starting basked in the façade of being just any other man.

As if to combat that betrayal of himself; his nighttime activities had increased, so much so, that talk of the "mysterious superhuman stranger " had made it to the basement of the Daily Planet where they were both just starting to pay their dues, though Lois had a six-month head start.

To make matters worse, Lois was determined to unearth this stranger and land her first byline. That alone should have forced his hand, but he kept stupidly counting on fate to be on his side. He dropped his ruined jacket on a nearby chair, feeling completely uncomfortable and surreal in his own skin suddenly, with Lois's words still ringing in his ears. His stomach twisted in knots as he realized there may not be a way to ask her to forgive this one.

He started to walk towards the window, to watch the fire he'd helped extinguish, disappearing into nothing but a gray mist across the city, when the door opening and slamming startled him.

"No! I am not going to be one of those overly dramatic females like you see on too many bad tv shows that go storming out expecting their dumb boyfriends to run after them. I'm going to stand here and you're going to explain to me why I didn't know that my boyfriend is the "mysterious superhuman" I've been pulling out my hair trying to find. Don't try to deny it, there's no other explanation."

"Lois…"

She whirled around on him. "And that's not even the thing that bothers me most, how could it be? We're dating Clark, more than that, I consider you my boyfriend, and I thought you felt the same about me--but how could you when you've chosen to leave this extremely importantly detail about yourself out! What am I supposed—"

"Are you going to let me talk!"

Her eyes betrayed her shock at the volume of his voice; he rarely yelled, and she couldn't remember the last time he did, at least not with any real anger. She got very quiet, narrowing her eyes at him and made a small gesture encouraging him to continue.

"Look, this is killing me, I could lose you—you could slip away from me right now, and what's worse, its my fault. I wanted to tell you, I needed to, but I was just too afraid. I know I should have trusted you more, and given you more credit for not being anything like the people I've given my heart to in the past. But now I've screwed that up, because even if you'd accept me, how can I be anything more than a liar to you now? So if you want to know the truth, all of it, I'll tell you. You can do whatever you like after that, but I just hope you'll hear me out."

She wanted to tell him she wasn't slipping anywhere, but she was too angry and upset to want to make him feel better, so she remained silent.

"So, yeah, I can fly."

"I can see that, how?"

Clark took a deep breath. It'd been years since he'd given the "I'm an alien" speech, and it never got any easier.

"I'm, not from around here…."

Lois stood there, shoulders squared and arms crossed, her gaze completely unflinching and a bit impatient.

"Well, neither of us are from France, Clark, care to be a little more specific?"

There was really no easy way to say it. "I'm from Krypton…"

"Krypton? Clark I mean it…"

"I'm not from earth ok, I'm from a planet called Krypton. I can fly, I can run faster than you can see, I can shoot heat from my eyes, and see through solid objects, oh and bullets bounce off me. Is that specific enough for you?!"

Lois narrowed her eyes at him, and pulled her arms closer. "Prove it."

"What?!"

"I said prove it. Light the fireplace with your eyes, run downstairs—something. I mean how do I know you're not some meteor freak with delusions of grandeur?"

Clark just shook his head exasperated. "I'm not putting on a show for you Lois."

"I'm sorry Clark, but you stand there and tell me you're from some planet I never heard of and that you can shoot fire from your eyes, I'm going to need some proof. And to be fair, I only saw you land, not fly."

Without another word Clark walked over to the fireplace, reached into the fire and picked up a discarded andiron, crushing it until it resembled a mangled ball of metal.

He turned and held it out to her, his face blank. Lois tried to keep her stance, but her eyes betrayed her. They were wide and her lips were slightly parted, as they looked from the mound of metal to Clark's impassive face. She tried to re-arrange her body into something resembling defiance, but quickly gave up.

"So, that's…what about the flying?"

"What about it?"

"I want you to take me flying."

Clark sighed, growing tired of this, he just wanted her to either throw her arms around him and say it didn't matter, or walk out the door forever.

"I don't think that's a good idea."

She walked over to him and stood right in front of him, and looked directly into his eyes.

"I need to see for myself."

He nodded, fully understanding, and took her hand leading her out to the balcony.

"Ok, I've never done this with anyone before, so hold on tight and let me know if its uncomfortable for you."

She grabbed hold of his hand that encircled her waist. "Trust me, I'll let you know"

* * *

Clark held Lois close to him, and despite her bravado, he could feel her trembling in his arms, and with one smooth leap they were in the air rising above the warm Paris night.

Lois didn't really know what to expect. Part of her thought Clark would call her crazy and tell her she was dreaming, but she knew there was more to Clark than he let on. She'd never seen anyone work so hard not to be noticed, and no one did that unless they had something to hide. She never pushed; she figured he'd tell her when he was ready. Even still, she never imagined the revelation would involve them soaring over Paris in the middle of the night.

They glided effortlessly in the clear dark sky—the full moon bathing everything in an impossibly luminescent glow. She let her arms hang free, and held onto her like she was an extension of his body. She marveled at how smoothly he moved his body against the warm night air, and she realized she had the best view of the most beautiful city in the world, and no one would ever experience it that way.

He landed softly on the top level of the Eiffel Tower, easing her down on the metal floor. He walked away from her and looked out over the city, his back sloped away from her, and his arms straining against the railing.

She watched his profile framed against the night, watching as the light wind played with his dark curls, sweeping them away from his face. He looked so noble standing there, only the tension in his arms revealed his turmoil. She knew every muscle in his body waited for her response, and that'd be accept whatever it was she said without a word of protest.

"So how long have you been able to fly?"

He didn't turn to look at her. "A couple of years now."

"Were you scared?"

He looked around at her, surprised by the question, and smiled a little. "Terrified."

"Well," She walked over to him, and leaned her head against his back. "As long as you promise not to break anything, or set anything on fire when we move in together, I think I can deal with it."

He turned completely around with a worried look on his face, but she could already see the elation in his eyes.

"Are you sure about this?"

She nodded. "Of course, I mean what woman in their right mind would turn down their very on personal superhero?"

He smiled broadly and leaned down to kiss her, and it quickly turned more passionate than either of them intended. Clark went to pull back, but Lois stopped him.

"We can't…not up here!"

She pulled him in for another kiss. "Who's going to see us Clark?"

"That's not the point…and, I mean, I don't know if…"

She stopped and looked at him seriously. "Oh, you mean you can't…"

"No! Nothing like that, I mean I can, I think, I'm just….what if I hurt you?"

She smiled. "Now why would you hurt me? Is there something else super about you I need to know about?"

He just shook his head, smiling, trying to ignore the fierce blush that darkened his cheeks.

"I just mean, I'm strong and what if I forget and hurt you."

She pulled him back towards her. "Don't worry Clark, superpowers or not, you hurt me, and I'll kick your ass."

* * *

Maybe the cold landing of the Eiffel Tower wasn't the most practical way to make love for the first time, but it was definitely the most romantic. Using their clothes as protection against the unforgiving steel, they both entered into the next phase of their relationship with almost careless abandon.

Afterwards, Lois lay against Clark's warm bare chest, with his shirt wrapped tightly around her, providing unneeded protection against the wind. She didn't think anything could penetrate the strong arms wrapped around her.

"Hmmm…."

Clark threaded his fingers through her hair. "What?"

"Oh, nothing, its just, I thought it'd be different somehow."

Clark frowned and moved to look at her face. "Different than what?"

"Well…you have these extraordinary abilities and I thought maybe, you know, there'd be something extra special about this too."

"Sorry to disappoint you."

"Oh no, no, I mean it was good, really good, just not—amazing. But I'm sure with some practice, you'll get better." She patted his face affectionately and buried her face against his chest and laughed.

Clark rolled his eyes, and pushed her off of him. "I really don't like you Lois."

Still laughing, she replied, "I don't like you much either, Smallville."

**the end**


End file.
